The spread is the gap between best bid and ask; fees add on top (maker/taker tiers, withdrawals, etc.). Buying near ask and selling near bid realizes friction before the market trends your way.
Small targets magnify friction
Scalps with tiny take-profit distances can be dominated by spread and latency. Model costs explicitly rather than assuming mid-price fills.
Tick value still anchors risk
Tick value tells you USD per tick at your size; spread tells you ticks paid upfront. Together they describe the first hurdle every trade must clear.
Use the tick value calculator and profit/loss calculator for planning.
Round-trip thinking for scalps
If your average target is tiny in ticks, a few ticks of spread can be a large fraction of the journey before the market trends your way. That does not make scalping impossible—it means your edge must live outside the spread or you must trade hours when books are thick.
Recording spread in your journal
Log quoted spread at entry and exit for a month. You will see which sessions subsidize your strategy and which tax it.
- Tag trades taken five minutes before high-impact prints.
- Separate results for market vs limit entries.
- Compare majors vs mid-caps on the same style.
Connecting spread to tick value
Tick value tells you dollars per tick; spread tells you ticks paid upfront. Together they describe the first hurdle every trade must clear.